A HIGH Court action aimed at compelling the State to pay the €50,000 per month costs of providing private care for a severely physically and mentally disabled autistic boy has been adjourned to today.
The 11-year-old boy is being cared for in a rented house in south Dublin, operated by a registered private charity called the Solis Trust.
This charity specialises in care for children with serious learning and behavioural difficulties.
The child’s parents say they can no longer afford to keep him in the private care facility.
They further argue that if it is lost, this will cause their son to regress and his problems will become even more intractable.
They have applied to the High Court for an injunction requiring the HSE, the Ministers for Health and Education and the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) to provide funding for the Solis facility pending further proceedings over the child’s long-term care.
Injunction proceedings were due to begin before Mr Justice Michael Peart yesterday but Gerard Hogan SC, for the boy, secured an adjournment to today.
The boy has serious behavioural difficulties having suffered a brain injury and cerebral palsy.
He has also been diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Asperger’s syndrome.
He attended a mainstream national school until May 2007 and was shortly afterwards cared for in a private facility in Boston, the May Institute, which provides specialised services for those with autism and brain injury.
After a year and a half there, the parents decided to return to Ireland.
They asked the May Institute to assess whether the standard of care he had in America would be available here.
The parents said that this standard was not available through the State and they approached Solis, which rented out a house in south Dublin where the child has lived since December last with a number of carers provided by the charity.
The cost of this service is €50,000 per month.
The HSE has said the parents had made a decision to place the boy in the Solis facility without discussing that fully with it.
It was incorrect to say he would not receive funding for his care but that would have to be done on the basis of an assessment which could take some time, the HSE added.
The State has said the case is important from its viewpoint as it concerns a policy matter relating to the funding of a private facility which is not run by the HSE or by the Departments of Education and Health.